I forgot to say that Dickey Snookes was sent on board the prize to keep
me company. He told me that the captain had called him into the cabin,
and given him a long lecture about playing tricks, and that he had made
up his mind to behave very circumspectly. I doubted that he would keep
very long to his good resolution. I felt excessively proud when I first
walked the deck of the prize as officer of the watch, though that fellow
Snookes would declare that the old quartermaster who kept it with me was
my dry-nurse, and that I was a mere make-believe. I know that I kept
pacing up and down on the weather side of the quarter-deck with great
dignity, looking up at the sails, and every now and then giving a glance
at the compass, to assure myself that the man at the helm was steering a
proper course. I should like to know what officer in the service, under
the circumstances, could do more. We were ordered to keep the frigate
always in sight, and as the prize sailed well, we had little difficulty
in doing that. In the day time we collected the poor blacks to come on
deck in fifties at a time, and walk up and down. We had a black man on
board the frigate, who was now sent with us, and he understood the
language of some of the slaves. I had not forgotten the poor boy whose
mother I had seen die, and I got permission for him to attend at our
mess. The other black seaman was able to explain to him what he had to
do, and I set to work to teach him English. He learned with surprising
rapidity, and could soon exchange words with me. I wished to give him a
name, and succeeded in learning that his native one was Pongo. He, of
course, had no Christian name, so I proposed calling him Peter, and he
was always afterwards known as Peter Pongo. He soon became a capital
servant, though he did now and then make curious mistakes. Once he
brought our soup into the cabin in a wash-bowl, and another time emptied
into a pail two bottles of wine which he had been ordered to cool in
water. Snookes was for punishing him, but I saved the poor fellow, as I
was certain that he had not done either of the things being aware of
their incorrectness. He exhibited, in consequence, the greatest
gratitude towards me, and evidently looked up to me as his friend and
protector. He improved rapidly in his knowledge of English, and by the
time we drew near the coast of South America he was able to explain
himself with tolerable clearness. With the aid of the negro seaman I
spoke of, I got somewhat of poor Peter Pongo's simple history out of
him. I cannot put it in his words, for though at the time I could
understand them, yet you certainly would not if I wrote them down. One
day I had gone forward, and when seated on the forecastle, under the
shade of the fore-staysail, I listened to his narrative. "Ah! Massa
Pringle, my country very good," he began. He always called me Pringle,
for he could not manage to pronounce my surname. "Plenty yams there--
plenty denge--plenty corn--plenty sheep--tall trees--high mountains--
water come gushing out of rocks up among clouds--so cool with foam--loud
roar--make grass grow--bright ponds--many animals come and drink. Ah!
no country like mine. My father have good house too--very warm--very
cool--no rain come in--all built round square--high roof, hang long way
over wall--room for walk up and down under it. Dere we all sit in
middle of square, listen to stories--now we laugh, now we cry--sun go
down, moon get up--star twinkle in dark sky, all so bright--still we
talk--talk on--tell long stories--so happy--laugh still more. Ah! what
is dat? Dreadful shriek--shriek--shriek--guns fire--we all start up--
some run one way, some anoder--house on fire--flames rise up--fierce men
come in--cut down some--kill--kill--take women, children--many young
men--some fight--dey all killed--my father killed--mother, brother, and
me all carried away together--hands tied behind our backs--hundreds--
hundreds poor people, all drive away towards coast--then with long
sticks and whips drive along--walk, walk--foot so sore--sleep at night
under tree--all chained--up again before sun--walk, walk on all day--
cruel men beat us--some grow sick. My brother, him grow sick--lie down
under tree--men beat him with stick--he look up--say, Oh, no beat me--
give one sigh, fall back and die. Dere he stay--many die like him--some
lie down, and men beat him up again. On we go--see at last blue ocean--
put into Barracoon--all chained to iron bar--no move one side nor oder--
wait dere many days. Ship with white sail come at last--we all put on
raft--carried to ship. Oh, how many--more, more come--ship no hold
them--many sick--many die--thrown overboard--shark eat them. On we
sail--oh, how hot--more, more die--many days no more--float on water
like one log--den you come--white man, Spaniard, say you kill us--ah,
no, no--you very good--we very happy--yes, massa, Peter Pongo very happy
now." Such was Peter's brief account of himself. You will not consider
it too much of a rigmarole. I was, I know, much interested when he told
it me, and I had some little difficulty in making out what he meant.
Soon after this we entered the magnificent harbour of Rio de Janeiro,
which looks like a lake surrounded by lofty hills, the curious
sugar-loaf rising above all. I have heard it said that it would contain
all the ships in the world; but, large as it is, I have an idea that
they would be very close packed if they were all brought together there.
The city is large, built on level ground, or rather on a swamp, with
mountains covered with trees rising directly behind it. There are
numerous churches and fine palaces, and many large public buildings, but
the white inhabitants are very brown and dirty, and the black, who seem
to be very numerous, wear a remarkably small amount of clothing. Though
the greater number are slaves, they are very merry slaves, and it was
amusing to see one party meet another. They would stop, pull off their
straw hats, make a series of mock polite bows, and some remarks which
were sure to produce roars of laughter; how they would twist and turn
about, and at last lean against each other's backs, that they might more
at their ease indulge in fresh cachinnations. I have never seen any but
blacks twist themselves into such curious attitudes. I cannot give a
more lucid account of this imperial city, because I was so very little
on shore. We had a great deal of work in getting the schooner refitted.
All the poor blacks were taken on board the frigate, for we could not
trust them on shore lest the Brazilians might have spirited them away,
while the schooner was thoroughly cleansed and fumigated. We then took
in an ample supply of water and provisions, and prepared to recross the
Atlantic. The Brazilians could not understand why we took so much
trouble about a few miserable blacks, and thought that we should have
done much more wisely had we sold them to them at half-price. Mr
Talbot had still charge of the prize, and having Sommers as his
lieutenant, with Dickey Snookes and me, he was ordered to carry her back
to Sierra Leone. We flattered ourselves that both My Lord and Polly
looked at us with a considerable amount of envy as we wished them
farewell.